Klinik für Innere Medizin IIGastroenterologie, Hepatologie, Endokrinologie und Infektiologie

"TIPS" stands for "transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt" - an interventional procedure for the treatment of ascites and variceal bleeding. The Medical Center - University of Freiburg and in particular the Department of Medicine II is regarded nationally and internationally as the "cradle and home" of TIPS. The first successful TIPS procedure on a patient was performed here in 1988 (see History and current status of TIPS). Today, TIPS is a routine procedure.

Patients who are treated in the TIPS section include

• Patients with liver cirrhosis
• Patients with vascular liver diseases (portal vein thrombosis, Budd-Chiari syndrome)
• Patients with other causes of non-cirrhotic portal hypertension

The TIPS section is embedded in the outpatient and inpatient structures and centers of the Department of Medicine II

• Initial outpatient presentations of patients take place via the Gerok Liver Center in the TIPS outpatient clinic.
• Ultrasound examinations of the liver, color-coded duplex sonography, contrast ultrasound of the liver or a stiffness measurement of the liver by fibro-scan are carried out in the Interdisciplinary Ultrasound Center.
• Inpatient treatment for the TIPS procedure takes place on the wards of the Department of Medicine II.
• The intervention itself takes place on the premises of the Interdisciplinary Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Unit of the Department of Medicine II

Examinations that can be planned and scheduled via the TIPS section are

• Transjugular liver biopsies
• Invasive hepatic vein occlusion pressure measurements
• Transjugular, transhepatic variceal embolizations
• Transjugular, transhepatic lysis treatments
• TIPS facilities

Appointments are available Monday to Thursday from 7.30 am to 3.30 pm and Friday from 7.30 am to 1.00 pm.